WVU is my second favorite team in the NCAA (when it comes to football) but you fans need to focus on winning your division before you talk natioanl championship.

08-25-2007, 09:00 PM

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Devine interview [video]

08-27-2007, 09:11 AM

Joined Apr 2005 - away - #23

booker20

Really Miami? lol

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he avoided that Deion question real nice... and the o line at our high school has always been b00ty... so all i gotta say is good luck to the leading rusher in NFMHS history and i expect big things from him this season...

Last edited by booker20; 08-27-2007 at 09:12 AM..

08-29-2007, 09:41 AM

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Jeannette, Pa. quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the nation's No. 1 player, begins his senior season this Friday at home against Brownsville. On the recruiting front, the 6-foot-6, 220-pounder is also starting to get things underway with his first scheduled official visit and a second destination set in stone.

Pryor knows of two official visit destinations.
"I've set up an official visit to Ohio State for when they host Wisconsin," said Pryor. "I'm also going to take an official visit to West Virginia as well, I'm just not sure when. I was looking at their schedule and the Louisville game is the big one but that's on a Thursday night so that won't work out. Maybe I'll go see them when they host Pitt."

The date of the Ohio State-Wisconsin game is Nov. 3 and the Mountaineers host the Panthers on Dec. 1. Pryor has a busy schedule during the football season and basketball starts up in November, so taking visits will be tricky.

"We don't have a week off at all during the football season so I have to go to places that are close," he said. "Ohio State is just a few hours away and West Virginia is just an hour away. I can play on a Friday night and still make it to either place for a full weekend. I don't want to take an official someplace from Saturday to Monday because it's not the same and I don't want to miss school."

Pryor was expected to narrow down his list of schools to 5 or 6 by now but he's still having trouble making cuts.

"After Ohio State and West Virginia it's still the same group of teams," he said. "I thought about taking an official to Alabama for their game against Arkansas but that wouldn't work because of our schedule. I'll probably figure out my other visits after I get to talk to coaches over the next few weeks."

Pryor has been linked to Penn State since the beginning of the process as the Nittany Lions were considered a favorite for his services. Will he take any unofficial visits to State College and will PSU make his final cut?

"I'm not really sure about either of those things," he said. "It's only a couple of hours away so I could go to a game pretty easily but I don't have anything set up. I've heard that everyone expects me to be at their game against Notre Dame but I don't know. I haven't really decided about Penn State yet when it comes to visits or interest."

"I'll narrow that down but I want to see a few games on TV first and talk to some coaches," he said. "I want to make sure I fit into the offense at certain schools and see how they run things. I plan on taking all five of my official visits so I have three more to figure out. I'll take the rest of them after the season and I still want to decide on Signing Day."

Summer conditioning went very well for Pryor and he's expecting to have a big season.

"The opener against Brownsville will be a good way to start the season although I doubt I'll play a lot because we should have a pretty big lead early," he said. "I tried to get faster this summer and I was timed at 4.32 in the 40-yard dash which I was happy with. I'm looking forward to having a big year and proving to everyone that I am No. 1 because I know there are doubters out there."

The talented quarterback has committed to play in the U.S. Army All American Bowl in San Antonio, Tex. in early January. As a junior he threw for 1,732 yards and rushed for 1,676 yards while scoring 44 total touchdowns. On defense he picked off 11 passes.

Pryor is also a five-star basketball recruit and is ranked as the No. 3 small forward in the country. As a junior he averaged 21.2 points, 10 rebounds and seven a.ssists.

Pryor and Devine >>>>>> White and Slaton..... and White and Slaton 2 of the best, so u kno what that means.... if he commits to OSU he'll faded away, at WVU he'll be a star....

08-29-2007, 10:29 AM

Joined Feb 2005 - away - #25

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Originally Posted by booker20

Pryor and Devine >>>>>> White and Slaton..... and White and Slaton 2 of the best, so u kno what that means.... if he commits to OSU he'll faded away, at WVU he'll be a star....

LOL @ "faded away."

Bad news for WVU fans....rumor has it that Pryor has all but made up his mind on where he wants to go but is waiting until the AA game to announce. Also, rumor has it he is recruiting for OSU on the low. Lastly, the Wisky game he is coming up to see is going to be the single biggest recruiting weekend for OSU this year.

Good news for WVU fans....there is still time between now and NLOI day and WVU is easily #2 right now.

08-29-2007, 01:09 PM

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Originally Posted by Y2Luda

LOL @ "faded away."

Bad news for WVU fans....rumor has it that Pryor has all but made up his mind on where he wants to go but is waiting until the AA game to announce. Also, rumor has it he is recruiting for OSU on the low. Lastly, the Wisky game he is coming up to see is going to be the single biggest recruiting weekend for OSU this year.

Good news for WVU fans....there is still time between now and NLOI day and WVU is easily #2 right now.

yea i kno... I jus dont think hes gonna get the shine their he'll be overshadowed by the rbs and defense... at WVU he'll be the focal point along with Devine... Im still a noles fan 1st i just wanna see my boy Noel have some help for the next 4 years... WVU has some pretty descent back up qbs anyway

09-02-2007, 12:50 AM

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they did their thing today

Slaton
White
Reynaud
Schmitt
Devine
Sanders
Brown

look out

09-02-2007, 07:21 AM

Joined Apr 2005 - away - #28

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I just watched the rivals highlights Pat White looked real good and Noel has never ever had blocking like that in his life, that was his 1st TD this year it wont be his last.... Im calling at least 10

09-02-2007, 06:24 PM

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^ Devine will be exciting to watch, along with Jock Sanders, he looked real nice too...

09-02-2007, 06:27 PM

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Two of a Kind
By Christopher Marshall for MSNsportsNET.com
August 22, 2007

Noel Devine & Jock Sanders

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – By now everyone has heard about the remarkable high school football career of Noel Devine, who ran for an astounding 6,842 yards and 93 touchdowns during his career at North Fort Myers (Fla.) High School.

The 5-foot-8-inch, 170-pound speedster starred in the U.S. Army All-American game and was considered by some to be the best high school running back in the country last year. Devine’s YouTube videos are already the stuff of legend. They feature his blazing speed and tremendous cut-back ability, while showing balance that bares a striking resemblance to Barry Sanders.

“Like a lot of great backs he has the ability to make people miss and be able to get through a small space and make positive yards,” Rodriguez said of Devine. “He’s not a big guy but he’s a pretty explosive runner.”

The soft-spoken Devine is leery of the enormous attention he’s received wanting simply to just blend in with the rest of the freshmen. And he doesn’t spend much of his time watching all those highlight videos that others have posted of him on web sites.

“I just try to stay levelheaded,” he said. “I’m just trying to do better things here.”

Devine delayed his college decision a full month after signing day. The extra time gave him the opportunity to clear his head and follow his heart.

“I fell in love with the program,” Devine said. “The nice people, the nice facilities … it was a place I thought I could better myself the most.”

As much as Devine has been talked about, he’s not the only talented freshman runner in Coach Rich Rodriguez’s backfield. Jock Sanders is equally gifted and is competing neck and neck with Devine to grab playing time as Steve Slaton’s backup.

“There are some talented guys,” Rodriguez said. “I think that freshman class is one of the most athletic we’ve signed.”

Sanders didn’t have as many stars as Devine coming out of St. Petersburg Catholic School, but his credentials are almost as impressive. The 5-8, 185-pound multi-purpose athlete had an outstanding high school career in his own right, rushing for 1,600 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior and 1,200 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior. He earned all-area honors three times while also lettering in basketball.

“He’s a kid in high school who played a little bit of everything,” said Rodriguez. “They’re both little guys – you’d have a hard time seeing them over this podium – but they run hard and they’re learning pretty quickly.”

Sanders’ versatility makes him a valuable commodity in West Virginia’s spread offense. He played quarterback, running back, wide receiver and safety in high school. Like Devine, Sanders is an electrifying runner that makes defenders miss with sharp cuts and excellent stop-and-start moves.

The fact that Sanders can also return kicks and punts gives Rodriguez yet another deadly weapon in his growing arsenal of offensive playmakers.

With both players coming from Florida, Sanders admits that he has heard a lot about his counterpart.

“Everybody was like, ‘You know Devine is going there.’ I just approached it like Devine was going to make me better and I’m going to try to make him better,” Sanders said. “That’s what a team is all about.”

Sanders, who admits the biggest difference for him between high school and college is the speed of the defenses, says that he is embracing the notion of staying under the radar as he competes with Devine.

“I feel a little bit like the underdog but we work together as a team so it’s a good deal,” Sanders said. “Don’t get me wrong, we compete hard against each other every day but we support each other and help each other out.”

Sanders and Devine have fully bought into Rich Rodriguez’s Mountaineer team concept in their battle for playing time. They also realize that both of them will see the field on Sept. 1, regardless of who wins the number two running back job.

“You’ve got to be patient and stay humble,” Devine said.

“We both came in here to work hard,” Sanders said. “The coaches are going to have to make a big decision but regardless of whom the second back is we are both going to play hard. We will both have our opportunities.”

Opportunities that Mountaineer fans hope will be fruitful for both Noel Devine and Jock Sanders in 2007.

09-02-2007, 06:30 PM

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After Week 1....

Football Notebook
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
September 2, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It may not be the Big House, but boisterous Milan Puskar Stadium can provide a pretty good home field advantage, too. West Virginia University senior safety Ryan Mundy realized that yesterday afternoon playing his first game in Morgantown. Mundy spent four years playing at 107,000-seat Michigan Stadium and he believes that atmosphere in Morgantown is very similar.

Steve Slaton and Patrick White accounted for seven of West Virginia's nine touchdowns scored Saturday against Western Michigan.
AP photo

“It’s pretty much the same because the fans down here are passionate,” Mundy said. “They get loud when they need to and they are quiet when they need to. They were really into the game.

“Michigan holds like 107,000 and down here it’s probably about 60,000 but if you’ve got good fans that is what it really comes down to.”

Mundy is excited about the opportunity of playing more games at Milan Puskar Stadium.

“It was crazy. It was everything that I expected it to be – the atmosphere, the team – everything was almost perfect,” he said. “It was a great experience for me and I’m definitely looking forward to a couple of more games here.”

MICHIGAN SHOCKER

The first question posed to Ryan Mundy after Saturday’s game was his thoughts on No. 5 Michigan being upset by I-AA Appalachian State.

“I got updates on it before the game and then on the loudspeaker I heard it then,” he said. “I’m a little shocked. I talked to a couple of guys (Friday) night and they said (Appalachian State) was a good team. In the same breath I was focused on what we had to do.”

“Coaches will tell you that anything can happen,” Rich Rodriguez said. “If Michigan can get beat by a I-AA at home it goes to show you that you’ve got to be ready to play every week.”

GREAT SKILL

Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit was impressed with West Virginia’s offensive skill players – particularly Heisman Trophy candidates Patrick White and Steve Slaton who had a hand in seven of the Mountaineers’ nine touchdowns scored on Saturday.

“You’ve got to deal with those two and the problem is there is so much open space if you don’t get into the right spot,” Cubit said. “You start running out of people and that’s what they do to you – they play fast, it’s a hurry up, and we’re not used to that.”

Several times Cubit thought his defense had White and Slaton bottled up for short gains only to see them break free for long runs.

“They’re great players,” he said. “I thought we had White for a sack and then all of the sudden he slips one guy and goes and gets a first down.”

Rich Rodriguez believes White may turn out to be the best to ever play at West Virginia.

“Everybody wants to have that special player,” Rodriguez said. “A guy that will not only make plays when they’re there but more than anything, he will make plays when they’re not there. He missed a couple of touchdown throws and he’ll be the first to tell you. But there were a couple of times when there were guys sitting unblocked in the hole and Pat got out of it. He continues to prove that he’s one of the best football players I think this school has ever had.”

DEVINE’S DEBUT

With West Virginia comfortably ahead, Rich Rodriguez was afforded the opportunity of playing several true freshmen including YouTube legend Noel Devine. About two-thirds of the fans remained in the stadium to give Devine a standing ovation when he jogged out onto the field in the fourth quarter and Devine delivered, turning his first screen pass into a 19-yard gain. Devine finished West Virginia’s final drive with an eight-yard touchdown run and had 63 total yards for the game.

“I did what I could for them,” Devine said, “and they did what they could for me. They stuck around and cheered for me. My first game I scored a touchdown so it’s a good start.”

The touching fan support also was recognized by Rodriguez after the game.

“I thought that was really nice,” he said. “What was nice was the fans stayed to the end, sang Country Roads, and watched the young guys. That was really neat and it meant a lot to those young guys. Our fans were terrific today – they really were.”

MILKING THE CLOCK

Western Michigan held a distinct advantage in offensive plays in the first half and Rich Rodriguez believes more teams are going to try and work the clock and keep the football away from his offense.

“That’s why those third-down stops (on defense) are so critical for you,” he said.

Western Michigan finished the game 8 of 19 on third-down conversions but Rodriguez would like to see that number a little lower.

COVER ZERO

Western Michigan chose to put everyone up on the line of scrimmage to stop Patrick White and Steve Slaton and that allowed White to exploit a very solid Bronco secondary with early touchdown passes to Dorrell Jalloh and Steve Slaton.

“They were committing everybody to the box and we were a little stubborn at times and we should have thrown more passes,” Rodriguez said. “One thing about it is if you do break through the first level versus cover zero it’s going to be a big play.”

NEW MSN POSTGAME SHOW

The Mountaineer Sports Network has introduced a new post-game Internet-only highlights show that will follow each home football game. CSTV All-Access subscribers have the opportunity of getting post-game analysis from Tony Caridi and Dwight Wallace, game highlights, and locker room reaction.

Click HERE for a free preview.

RECORD BOOK UPDATE

They Said It
"Are they as good as advertised? Yeah, they're that. They're that ... They're getting all this publicity. It's for real."

Steve Slaton scored four more touchdowns Saturday against Western Michigan (three rushing and one receiving) and now shows 41 career touchdowns to lead all active players in the country. Slaton is now four rushing touchdowns shy of tying Amos Zereoue for third on the school’s all-time list and needs seven to break the record held by Ira Errett Rodgers and Amos Zereoue.

Slaton had his 16th career 100-yard rushing game and is now 19 yards shy of becoming just the third runner in school history to rush for more than 3,000 yards for his career.

Slaton’s 58-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the second-longest TD run of his career. He had a 65-yarder last year against Cincinnati.

Quarterback Patrick White moved past Dan Kendra into seventh place in career total offense with 4,943 yards. His 23 career touchdown passes is now three shy of cracking the WVU all-time Top 10 occupied by Jeff Hostetler and Allen McCune with 26. White is already the school and Big East Conference career rushing leader for quarterbacks with 2,268 career rushing yards.

That figure places him eighth among all WVU career rushers.

09-02-2007, 06:35 PM

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for news, interviews, highlights, etc. on the front page

we needa get this thread jumpin

09-03-2007, 02:32 PM

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did ya'll see the "In Focus: Noel Devine" video on Rivals... it jus shows all his highlights from the game but i wish i knew how to rip from streaming

09-04-2007, 04:48 PM

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i saw devine playing some touch football the other day, and up close he was easily the fastest man i've ever seen. i cannot wait for the rest of the season.

09-04-2007, 11:44 PM

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^^ yea i saw the devine video..looks promising & so does jock sanders

^ hell yea, this season should be real fun

09-04-2007, 11:45 PM

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Road Tested
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
September 4, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – To a man, the players on the West Virginia University football team understand that their trip down to Huntington, W.Va., to play Marshall this Saturday is being viewed down there as much more than just a football game.

Coach Rich Rodriguez is 9-1 in his last 10 regular season road games at West Virginia.
AP photo

For a good many there it is the culmination of a dream that really began before most of us were even born. The Mountaineers’ last trip to Huntington to play a football game was in 1915 when Woodrow Wilson was in the White House.

A countdown clock on the school’s official athletic web site was not calibrated for the 2007 season opener against Miami – it is still counting down to the Sept. 8 home opener against West Virginia (three days, 13 hours, 56 minutes and six seconds as of this moment). Ninety two years between trips makes this much more than just a football game in Huntington – it’s a crusade.

You can scan old clippings of Huntington sports editorials all the way back to the mid-1950s to read a young Ernie Salvatore imploring both schools to play a football game – anywhere. His talking points then were the same ones he used when the series was finally revived a decade ago when Marshall made the jump to I-A status.

That game in 1997 in Morgantown was memorable as much for the way West Virginia won it in the fourth quarter as it was for the future NFL players on the field – Randy Moss and Chad Pennington for Marshall and Marc Bulger, Jerry Porter, Anthony Becht and Amos Zereoue for West Virginia.

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez believes in time the WVU-Marshall game will become a rivalry approaching the level of Pitt, Syracuse, Maryland and Louisville.

“I’ve played them once and I think Coach (Don) Nehlen played them once in 27 years,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t place too much into the so-called rivalry when you’ve played twice in 20-some years. Now when you play every year it becomes a rivalry … when you play somebody a lot and there’s a lot at stake the intensity of that makes it a rivalry.

“It’s going to become one I’m sure.”

West Virginia players understand that they will be entering a super-charged environment on Saturday and that is appealing to their competitive nature.

“We love the challenge,” said junior wide receiver Dorrell Jalloh. “We love to go out there and compete and have a test on our hands. Marshall is hyped up and they really want to play us because we’re the No. 3 team in the nation and they will give it all they have. We’re going to give it all we have and it should be a really good game and an exciting one to watch.”

Martinsburg’s Nate Sowers says he was recruited by the Thundering Herd and his three older brothers are Marshall graduates.

“They’re Mountaineer fans now and they cheer for their little brother like they’re supposed to,” Sowers laughed. “They are excited to go back down there and visit the campus and see their little brother play.”

Sowers says he has not had to say a word to West Virginia’s out-of-state players about the meaning of the game. They know all about it.

“They can sense it from the media. It’s Marshall. You can’t explain it. It’s an in-state game and it’s going to be exciting,” he said.

Ryan Mundy, a veteran of the Ohio State-Michigan series -- which also happens to be a fairly super-charged game, says the high emotion usually dissipates after the first snap.

“Once you get your first hit and first snap out of the way it’s basically relying on what you did during the week in practice,” Mundy explained.

The senior has played in some hostile environments before and rates Ohio Stadium as the most difficult venue he’s ever played in, although it wasn’t the loudest.

“The loudest place I played was Oregon. It was amazingly loud,” he said. “It sounds like a jet was right here. You could barely hear the people standing next to you on the sidelines talking because it was so loud.”

Mundy says playing on the road requires focus and paying close attention to detail.

“You just have to block out all the distractions, the hype, the crowd noise, and you just have to focus with your unit – your secondary unit and your defensive unit and you have to make sure that when you step onto the field that your ready and able to get the job done,” he said.

Most of West Virginia’s key players have plenty of experience preparing for loud venues, having played in the Georgia Dome in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl, the Carrier Dome against Syracuse and down at Louisville last year.

“We do some drills with playing music in practice so we’re used to that,” Sowers said. “Most of us have played in big games so I don’t think the noise is going to be a factor. We have ways around that.”

Jalloh explains that most focused athletes don't hear the crowd noise while they are playing anyway.

“What happens when you hit somebody or make a big play it tends to get really quiet which may seem hard to believe,” Jalloh said. “What happens is I go out there and I don’t hear anybody while I’m playing until I go to the sidelines.”

Mundy agrees.

“You hear it but you just get into a zone especially when you’re on the field,” he said. “You’re just in the zone and you’re focusing in on what you’re supposed to do on a particular play.”

Rodriguez, 9-1 in his last 10 regular season road games, will have his Mountaineer team fully prepared for what they will face on Saturday.

“Our guys understand what the Marshall game is. They understood it last year because there was a lot of hype,” he said. “They see the film and they see the players on tape.”

09-04-2007, 11:46 PM

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^ just a lil recap of today's press conference with rich rod

09-04-2007, 11:48 PM

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for all your mountaineer stats

09-04-2007, 11:52 PM

Joined Jan 2004 - away - #39

madness

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i need the mountaineers to cover the spread this week

09-05-2007, 03:20 PM

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Really Miami? lol

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Coming off of a 31-3 loss at Miami, Marshall head coach Mark Snyder's team (0-1) is right back into the pressure cooker for the team's home opener against cross-state foe West Virginia (3rd/4th and 1-0), the Mountaineers' first visit to Huntington in 92 years.

"They spread the entire field," Snyder said of WVU's spread offense. "They make you defend vertically and horizontally. It's a horizontal offense then suddenly it goes vertical. If an offense has the talent to do that, it makes them very difficult to defend."

The key to trying to stop the spread is speed, Snyder said.

"They [the teams that have beaten WVU] have had great plans in place. They tackled well and they created turnovers. South Florida was a very, very fast defense,"

Snyder feels Marshall must find a way to keep the WVU offense off of the field.
He believes that his unit has that quality also.

"We're faster than we've been. The good thing about going down and facing a team like Miami is that we got to match our speed with their speed," he said. "We didn't look out of place Saturday. We've been in some games in the past where we didn't feel like we were as fast as some of the teams we played."

One of those games was probably last year's match-up in Morgantown, the opener for both squads.

The Mountaineers rushed for 312 yards, 203 of them coming from Steve Slaton, in a 42-10 win that was never close. Pat White was 10-of-14 through the air for 168 yards and two scores and scampered for 48 on the ground.

"The challenge this week is on defense this week to tackle two of the premier players in the country in the open field," Snyder said.

The Herd quarterback will continue to be a two-headed monster for Marshall.

"We'll start with Bernard [Morris]. Brian Anderson will play. It will depend on how the game is going and if we're staying out of third and long. It keeps going back to that," Snyder said.

Against Miami, Morris was 16-for-26 for 162 yards passing but was intercepted three times. Anderson didn't fare much better, going 3-for-8 for 21 yards and one interception. Morris has been picked off 15 times in his last 13 games.

Morris was also the team's leading rusher, with 29 net yards on 17 carries. Running backs Darius Marshall, Kelvin Turner, and Chubb Small were unable to fill the shoes of the departed Ahmad Bradshaw, combining for 14 carries for 28 yards.

Snyder also anticipates an energetic atmosphere, with an expected record home crowd of more than 38,000-plus (though as many as 9,000 Mountaineers may be on hand).

"I got a little taste of it last weekend. Except for the score our really enjoyed coaching last week. It was my first trip to the Orange Bowl, and I really enjoyed it," he said. "I think this is a great thing for our state, that we're put on center stage. The two best teams in our state will be featured on ESPN, and we kick off the college football Saturday. We're excited."

Kick-off from Joan Edwards Stadium in Huntington is at 11 a.m.; calling the game on ESPN2 are Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, with Rob Simmelkjaer on the sideline.